Potato-digger



(No Model.) .2Y sheets-sheet 1.

G. H KIDNEY. PoTATo BIGGER.

No. 5.10-,0'70. Patented Deo. 5, 1893.

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G. H. KIDNEY.

IPG-TATU BIGGER. Y Y No. 510,070. Patented Dec. 5, 1893.

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ATTORNEA ATTEST.

GEORGE H. KIDNEY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

POTATO-DIGGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 510,070, dated December5, 1893. Application filed .Tune 26, 1893. Serial No; 478,809. (Nomodel.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern.- Y

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. KIDNEY, a citizen of the UnitedStates,residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Potato-Diggers; and I dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, which will enable others skilled in theart to which 1t appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in potato diggers, and theinvention consists in the construction, combination and arrangement ofparts substantially as shown and described and particularly pointed outin the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a plan View of my improvedmachine. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical centralV section thereoftaken substantially on line w, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of aportion of the rear of the machine, as hereinafter more fully described,and serves to show, especially, the relation of the active parts of themachine to the row of potatoes which is being dug, and to the rows oneither side thereof. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal central sectionalelevation corresponding to Fig. 2, but with the rotary digger removedand the plow or lifter swung up out of the way so that the machine isconverted into a row scraper or cleaner. Fig. 5 is a front elevation ofso much of the machine, especially as is connected with the drag chain,to show the arrangement of said chain and its relation to other parts.Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the machine in so far especially as thescraper blade and its means of support are concerned, and omitting otherparts not associated with the scraper. Fig. 7 shows the scraper carryingbar, and Fig. S its end support.

This machine is of the variety in which horse power is employed to drawthe same, and is designed to dig a row of potatoes at a time as rapidlyas a team will ordinarily travel in field work. I therefore employ anaxle A, and a pair of wheels B which are arranged to run in the furrowat either side of the row, and upon this axle are pivotally hung themain frame 2, and the tongue 3, each ot' which is independent of theother except as they are connected by adjustable mechanism, whereby theelevation ofthe rear of the frame may be determined and controlled, ifdesired. For this purpose as well as other purposes the side bars of theframe 2 extend forward nearly or quite one-third of their length infront of the axle A, and the overhanging yoke 5 connects the frontextremities of these side bars. This yoke is raised at its center asufficient distance above the tongue to give the desired room foradjustment of the said parts in relation to one anotherand a threadedrod or bolt 6 extends through the said tongue and the center of saidyoke, and a hand wheel 7 serves to effect the adjustment on said bolt.That is to say, as-

suming that the tongue sustaineda certain normal elevation when themachine is at work, a sort of counter-balance can be established betweenthe vtongue and the weight on frame 2, by the adjustment just described,and the man holding the handles of the machine can then determine thedepth which the parts shall work.

In transporting the machine from place to place the rear of the machinemay be lightened in this Way, and a shoe for the plow may be employed tosustain the parts. But for Vordinary work I prefer to leave the rearframe 2 free to play up and down with the surface over which it travelsand in this case the rod is lowered so that the tongue does not bear onthe head thereof, as seen in Fig. 2.

The working mechanism is all supported upon the frame 2, and thismechanism consists, essentially, in three leading parts, each of whichperforms an important office in the process of digging the potatoes. Thefirst of these elements or parts is the scraper or scalper S, which isset across the path of the machine at an angle of about forty-ve degrecsto its direction of travel, and is straight or substantially straightfrom end to end. This scraperor scalper is slightly curved to the frontalong its lower edge and has inclined teeth or serrations along its edgewhich serve a better purpose than a straight edge in cutting the root:Jand clearing the soil, and being inclined back toward the rear end ofthe scraper will clear themselves and avoid obstruction while they aredoing this improved work.

I have found that to utilize a machine of this kind in a weedy or grassyfield, the weeds and grass must be shorn off the row, and the row mustbe cleaned before successful digging can be done. I have also found thatwith a machine of the kind here described, such cleaning of the row canbe accomplished, however` dense and heavy the growth of weeds and grassin the patch may be. This scraper is designed to work just beneath thesurface of the earth in the roots of the plants or weeds, and it issupported upon the main frame 2 in front of the axle by the threaded rod9 and at the rear of the axle by the threaded rod l0. This throws saidblade or scraper across beneath the axle diagonally thereto, and sincewhen the frame 2 rises at one end it falls at the other, the saidscraper would rise and fall in like manner if it were rigid with saidframe at its ends, and this would prevent even and uniform work by thescraper. Therefore, to overcome this difficulty and to insure a uniformshear cut by the scraper notwithstanding the undulations 'of thesurface, and to hold the scraper to its work at both ends alike, I givethe rod 9 free up and down play in the frame and make the frame servechiefly as a guide for the rod while really the scraper is supported atits front by means of the bar l0. The said bar is constructed to makethe tongue a fulcrum or pivot point, and in this instance is rounded andhas an oblong hole for the bolt securing it loosely to the tongue. Thenat the other end the said bar l0 is held as seen in Fig. 8, so as to befree to slide in its support, and is held adjustably and loosely on therod 9 by set nuts 9. Said bar is therefore practically free or loose atall three points, and has the tongue, which always keeps the same level,as its fulcruln to adapt it to lthe movements of the main frame. Itfollows that the scraper is held level its full length all the timehowever much the main frame plays up and down. Thus, suppose the saidframe to rise at its rear; this will depress the front of the framebefore the axle and hence move the end l02 of the bar 10 downward. Nowthe tongue being unaffected by this movement and the bar l0 tiltingthereon, it follows that the front of the scraper will be raised exactlyas much as the rear of the frame and scraper have risen, and all the upand down movements of the rear of the frame, with which the rear end ofthe scraper is rigid, will be in like manner imparted to the front ofthe scraper. Next in order behind this scraper is the doubled wingedlifting and loosening plow ll. This plow is so constructed and arrangedas to pass easily beneath the bed of potatoes and raise them toward thesurface, as well as to loosen the earth about them, so that they may beeasily lifted out. The standard of this plow is comparatively narrow incross section, as seen in Fig. 3, but its wings extend laterally asufficient distance to reach the width of the bed and move the potatoesup toward the surface. If this plow be kept at the proper depth duringthe Work the point and edge will always enter beneath the potatoes, sothat none of them will beinjured by the plow, and the depth at which theplow runs must be determined by the depth of the potatoes in the ground.Now having thus loosened and raised the potatoes in the earth, itremains only to dig and separate them from the earth so that they can begathered, and this is accomplished by means of the rotating tootheddigger arranged immediately behind the plow 1l. This digger has a seriesof independently adjustable hubs 15 on the shaft 16 extending backthrough the center of frame 2 from axle A from which it is geared torotate with power. The hubs l5 have each a series of teeth 17 and are soarranged on the shaft 1G that the teeth of each succeeding hub come backof the next preceding one more or less, thereby giving them a retreatingand diagonal position as compared with the line of travel. One advantageof this arrangement of the teeth is to easily get rid of heavy stones byrolling them out of the way instead of picking them up and throwing themas would occur if all the teeth were in line with the line of travel.This does not however affect the potatoes, which are lighter and arecaught by the teeth in such way as to be thrown into rows as seen inFig. 3. The hubs l5 are held in their adjusted position by any suitablemeans, and the teeth 17 will in all cases be arranged according to theconditions of the soil and the work. Said teeth 17 are set apart fromone another sufficiently in the rows not to catch the loosened soil,'and yet are close enough to catch or gather the potatoes, and the rowsof teeth are just su'icient in number, and the digger revolvesjust fastenough, not to let any portion of the soil go unworked. There might bemore hubs and teeth if desired, and then the digger might run slower.The gear wheel 1S on shaft A and the miter gear 20 on shaft 16 arethrown constantly in gear and the clutches 2l operated bylever 22 serveto make engagement between the wheels and the axle. Obviously, this orany equivalent clutching mechanism may be employed.

The machine here shown is arranged to cast the potatoes to the left, andhence the machine should travel around the patch of potatoes to theright and work toward the center. I might, however, without changing theplan of the invention at all, make the machine so that it could as Welltravel back and forth upon the same side of the potato patch or field,taking row after row, by simply duplicating the miter-gear on the axle 4and providing means to IOO throw one or the other gear into actionaccording as the machine was going one direction or the other. Then amere change of gears at the end of the row would serve the purpose andthe machine could travel back and forth over rows side by side.

In the operations of the rotary digger the potatoes are thrown againstthe screen 23. This screen or stop has an arm 24 held in brackets uponthe main frame and means to lock the said arm and hold the screen at anydesired elevation. It should travel free of the earth and yet be lowenough to prevent the potatoes from being thrown through beneath it. Thecurved rods or wires, or other material, of which the screen is formed,serve to drop the potatoes in a line or row on the surface of the earthalong where the last preceding row of potatoes was dug. In this way Ithrow the potatoes from one row into another row, and over the weeds andgrass which are deposited between the rows by the scraper 8. When themachine is not in use and is carried from place to place, the screen 23is raised as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 3. This screen may be made ofsoft or yielding material so as not to injure the potatoes, if there bedanger of injury.

A revolving toothed cleaner 25 is fixed to the shaft 16 in front of theplow 1l, and serves to keep said plow clean from clods and trash,otherwise the plow would become clogged.-

To prevent possible annoyance from dust or trash thrown up by the rotarydigger I employ a hood or shield 26, arranged over the said digger. Thishood may be made wider than here shown, if desired.

The main frame has handles 28 by which the operator governs theoperations of the machine very much as he would a plow, and controllingthe depth at which the machine works and generally` regulating theoperations ofthe machine.

The relative depths at which the several parts work are illustrated inFig. 2, but these may be varied by adjustment according to conditions ofsoil or the like.

Sometimes it occurs that the weeds and grass are so heavy that itbecomes impracticable to clean and dig the row at the same time,'and soI have arranged the machine to meet this condition. To this end I havemade the rotary digger removable from the 'end of shaft 16, whichextends to the outside of frame 2, and have pivoted the plow on thecross bar of the frame so that it is adapted to.

be swung up out of working position, as seen in Fig. 2. The scraper thenalone is at work, and can be used this Way for as many rows as may bedesired. After scraping the digging Will follow by going over the grounda second time, and the plow and rotary digger are again restored toworking position. The standard of the plow rests against the crosspieceD and is temporarily secured to said cross piece by a bolt and nut, Fig.2.

In tall weeds particularly it is desirable to have something to drag theweeds down bcfore they come to the scraper, and for this purpose Iemploy a suitable chain E, fixed at its ends to the front of the machineand having a spreader, rod or bar -cto keep it in good working position.This materially helps the scraper in its Work.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim isl. In a potatodigger, the main frame pivoted on the axle,the scraper diagonal to theline of draft and extending across beneath the axle from front to rear,the double winged lifting plow supported centrally at the rear of themain frame behind said scraper, and a rotating digger directly behindsaid plow supported on a shaft in line with the direction of travel,substantially as described.

2. In a potato digger, the main frame pivoted on the axle, a scraperarranged diagonally to the line of draft and mechanism at its ends tohold the scraper in a level position independently of the movements ofthe said frame, the lifting plow behind the scraper and the rotarydigger behind said plow, substantially as described.

3. The wheel supported frame,a scraper extending diagonally acrossbeneath the axle thereof and means to support the scraper from the saidframe at its rear end and from the tongue at its front end,substantially as described.

4. The digger described and a frame extending forward of the axle, incombination with a scraper supported from the said frame behind theaxle, and means connected with the tongue of the digger to automaticallyhold the frontend of the scraper level with the rear end, substantiallyas described.

5. The main frame extending in front of the axle and pivoted thereon andthe tongue pivoted on the axle independently of saidv frame, incombination with the scraper supported on said frame at its rear andguided therein at its front, and a support for the front end of thescraper fixed to the tongue, whereby the scraper is held level,substantially as described.

6. The machine having a diagonallyarranged scraper, and a drag chainwith a spreader engaging its links, substantially as set forth.

7. The digger having the main frame pivoted on the axle, the scraperbeneath said frame, the lifting plow supported on said frame to be swungout of working position and the removable rotary digger behind saidplow, substantially as described.

8. The main frame pivoted on the axle independent of the tongue and thecentral shaft driven from the axle and having its end extending throughthe rear of said frame, a removable rotary digger on the end of saidshaft behind said frame, and a lifting plow in front of said diggerhaving its standard pivoted on ICO tro

rotary digger behind said plow consisting of a series of independentlymovable hubs and each hub provided with a series of teeth, substantiallyas described.

Witness my hand t0 the foregoing specifil5 cation.

GEORGE II. KIDNEY. Witnesses:

II. T. FISHER, GEORGIA SCHAEFFER.

